Heat continues to rise in the northern and central plains of the United States, with more than 15 million people exposed to heat warnings on Sunday. Temperatures in Minnesota and Nebraska are expected to rise to three digits.
The National Weather Service said heat indices could reach 100 degrees on Sunday, from the Persian Gulf coast to the nearby twin cities of Minnesota, where it is expected to be “dangerously hot and humid.”
A thermal dome that scorched the southwest last week and brought record high temperatures to more than a dozen cities is holding back, moving eastward and settling in the plains on Sunday, said Mark Channard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The heat wave is expected to continue during the week.
“The heat is certainly related to the general pattern we’ve seen in most of the United States since a week ago,” Mr Chenard said. “And it will actually last another week or so.”
Several records were set on Saturday on the central coast of the Persian Gulf, where temperatures reached 98 degrees in Tampa, Florida, and 101 degrees in Mobile, Alabama, according to the meteorological service.
The thermal dome is expected to move through the Mississippi Valley and mid-south on Monday, the meteorological service said. It will move to the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Tennessee valleys by Tuesday, and then to the southeast until Wednesday, Mr Chenard said.
Temperatures in much of the country will be above average during the week, Mr Chenard said, adding that “quite potential records” could be set in Texas and much of the southeast.
The heatwave has since erupted in the southwest, where “early monsoon humidity” was expected to cause sudden floods and scattered thunderstorms on Sunday, the meteorological service said.
Temperatures in California and Nevada were significantly lower on Sunday, with potentially record lows falling to 40 degrees just a week after both areas were scorched under the heat wave.
On Sunday, red flag warnings covered large parts of Arizona and Utah. Six forest fires, covering a total of more than 53,000 acres, remained active in Arizona, according to the National Interdepartmental Fire Center. Fire conditions are expected to improve on Monday, the meteorological service said.
Heat waves are more frequent and hotter and last longer than in previous decades, and are part of a global warming trend, scientists say.
The average number of heat waves in the United States has tripled, from two a year in the 1960s to six in 2010, according to the Federal National Climate Assessment. The heat wave season is also 45 days longer than in the 1960s.
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